INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO YOUR CLASSMATES
Write your mini autobiography introducing yourself to your classmates.
Skip the details about your school and college career (courses, major, employment goals.)
Focus rather on your "intellectual" history: the books, films, hobbies and creative activities that helped you grow.
Avoid mentioning the "most important people" in your life. Keep the focus on yourself and your personal, individual, unique path, the choices you made that took you where you are.
(This may take more than the traditional 3 minutes of standard platitudes and laundry list of achievements. Actually, failures or dead-ends are more interesting than success stories.)
Feel free to reply to your classmates' comments.
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Here is a powerful example. This was the very first comment posted by a student in a previous semester: it set the tone for the entire class.
"Hello, my name is ________________. Most of my life has revolved around cancer. Although I am not a cancer “survivor” I have survived cancer. A couple of days after my sixth birthday my younger brother was diagnosed with leukemia. My life changed. At a very young age I had to learn to take care of myself. To escape the lonely feelings I started writing in a journal. Writing made me feel at peace. Music and dancing also lifted me. Performing during my recitals, parades and charity events was thrilling and liberating. As I was starting to feel in control of my life, here comes cancer again. This time attacking my mother and my aunt, which were diagnosed with breast cancer. Immediately, I had to learn how to manage my feelings of anger. As a freshman in high school, I decided to join the cheer team. Performing to express my anger worked. I moved up fast and became varsity captain. As Captain of the cheerleading team I was accountable not only for myself but also for my teammates. I improved my skills on how to be a leader, and take responsibility for my actions and words. Throughout my stages of development, I was unconsciously characterizing and identifying myself. In Piaget’s stages of cognitive development theory, children experience sensorimotor. That is when they are experiencing the world through senses and actions. That is who I was; I first observed and then determined to face my fears. I never said, “I can not do it,” I just did it even if it was a challenge I did not stop until I succeeded. Cancer was one of the many situations that helped me grow into the person I am today. Ironically someone approached me at my job a few days ago, and said “ I see the care you have for people in your eyes, not many have that.”
